Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute
Eric Jordan was born in Shizuoka, Japan and raised in Portland, Oregon for 16 years. His father, an amateur guitarist, inspired this young multi-woodwind instrumentalist to pursue an instrument himself at a very young age.
The very first music Eric ever heard was Jazz fusion from artists such as Weather Report, Spyro Gyra, and Grover Washington, Jr. The instrument that stood out most to him in these recordings was the lead instrument, saxophone. He was tempted, even at such a young age, to pick up his Dad’s recorder and try to play along with the melodies. He adapted clarinet as his very first instrument at the age of nine. Then in the 4th grade band at French Road Elementary School in Rochester, New York, he discovered saxophone, which he intended to transition to eventually.
Eric’s family moved to Portland, Oregon the next year in 1995. When he picked up an alto saxophone for the first time in July 1998, he fell in love with Jazz. At the age of 13, he would come home from his 8th grade classes and listen to Jazz radio day and night, even during his homework hours. Through these years he always kept his clarinet alive, and in fact, flute became his newest addition in May 2005, just prior to his junior year of college.
Shortly after, in Fall 2005, Eric started teaching privately in Bloomington, Indiana to high school students. He developed a love for teaching and has also taught adult students on all three of his instruments. He has also served as a woodwind specialist, leading woodwind sectionals at public schools in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area since 2010.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University Bloomington, where he studied with David Baker, Dr. Tom Walsh, and one semester with Jim Snidero. He graduated in 2007, and worked on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as an orchestra musician from 2007-2010, and on Princess Cruises in 2011. He then attended University of Northern Colorado in Greeley where he got his Master's of Music in 2013. He studied with Dr. Andrew Dahlke while serving as a graduate assistant in UNC Jazz Studies department. He now resides in the Denver Metropolitan area where he is actively teaching and performing.
Eric has enjoyed incredibly diverse musical experiences, performing in the Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra on lead alto sax, and was also a guest tenor saxophonist in Portland Youth Philharmonic in 2002. Professionally he has performed in a Dave Matthews Cover Band, the musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” with the Jacob Merlin Band, the Mike Prigodich group, and big bands such as Steve Cannon’s and Minidoka Swing Band. Jordan continues to write original compositions in smooth jazz and fusion style, and will exhibit those works in local venues in the near future.
Someday Eric hopes to pursue a collegiate teaching career in Japan, and becoming a Jazz Studies department head at a Japanese music school or conservatory. He wishes for his students to not only achieve a thorough understanding of music and reading, but also strong technical facility and musicality that comes from the student’s heart.